The obsession with appearances and materialism - from cars to houses to Botox to breast implants - makes "Housewives" a case study for everything that is shallow and pathetic about our society. Of course, that's also what makes it so entertaining. [20 Mar 2006]

Paul Brownfield

Highly watchable. ... The show, an obvious riff on "Desperate Housewives" and "Laguna Beach: The Real OC," is less glossily executed than those but also, for all this, trashier and more believably grotesque. [21 Mar 2006]

Troy Patterson

What makes the show something better than a guilty pleasure is the way that, after introducing its subjects as borderline-reprehensible cartoons, it allows them flickers of self-awareness or shows them trying their damnedest to be terrific parents.

Rob Owen

Charles McGrath

The show isn't entertaining, exactly — it has none of the wit or style of "Desperate Housewives." But like so much reality TV, it's both educational and grimly fascinating, and leaves you feeling much better about your own life — if for no other reason than that you would never be so stupid as to appear on a show like this.